The County Clerk once again provided this packet only on paper
and only in black and white.
The
request to the County Clerk asked for
electronic copy, but once again she chose not to honor that part of the request.

There’s no change in that
after
the Open Government Symposium of 21 November 2014.
Also, this request was sent shortly after the previous Commission meeting,
and with more than three weeks notice the county only made this latest
packet available at 4:35 PM the Friday before the meeting,
when they close at 5PM.

Shortly after the previous Commission meeting, almost a month ago,
I filed an open records request for the board packet.
Today at 4:35PM I got a call saying it’s ready.
It takes me 30 minutes to get there.
They close at 5PM.

Some of them, like John and Gretchen Quarterman, serve as watchdogs
for the government. These watchdogs attend the open, public meetings
held by governing bodies, acquire the documents and records of these
meetings and other governmental affairs, and serve to make sure our
local governments behave like they should.

The Quartermans run the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), a
repository of Continue reading →

It looks like the “public” Pumpkin Farm Republican campaign rally headlined by Gov. Nathan Deal
not only caused a citizen journalist to be roughed up and
evicted, and her camera taken, apparently the local law edited
her video recording to remove the sound of her screams.

You’ll remember Tisdale as the citizen-journalist from Roswell who
was arrested in August at a GOP rally at a pumpkin farm in
Dawsonville for pointing a video recorder at candidates. Which is
what she does.

In front of the top of the GOP ticket, including Gov. Nathan Deal,
Tisdale was grabbed — then roughed up. Her camera was Continue reading →

Yay open government symposium!
But why in Macon, why not in Valdosta,
if it’s organized by the new VDT editor?
Sure, Macon is the geographic center of the state, but it’s only
about an hour from Atlanta, and one thing most people in Atlanta don’t
understand is how big Georgia is, so asking them to drive four hours
to Valdosta would be educational for them.
And if the VDT is so interested in government transparency,
why doesn’t it investigate the county’s lawsuit against local business Deep South Sanitation
at the expense of the local taxpayers that benefits nobody but
“exclusive franchise” ADS and its investors in New York City?
Why is the VDT’s front page story that gave a platform for
Spectra’s Andrea Grover no longer online, especially now that
the Sabal Trail deadline she announced has been busted?
Let’s see the VDT lead the way.
Here’s a first test:
Gretchen is going to Macon with the LAKE video camera.
Will the VDT let her video?

Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens successfully fought for and
implemented changes to the state’s Open Records law, believing that
transparency in government is essential to the public trust. The law
passed in 2012 states, “The General Assembly finds and
declares that the strong public policy of this state is in favor of
open government; that open government is essential to a free, open,
and democratic society; and that public access to public records
should be encouraged to foster confidence in government and so that
the public can evaluate the expenditure of public funds and the
efficient and proper functioning of its institutions.”

The VDT asked for records from the Lowndes County school system
and didn’t get them.
Their experience sounds quite similar to many LAKE has had
with the county government in particular,
with records not being provided in the statutory three days,
and sometimes not even an excuse or a list of what might
eventually be available.

Regarding videoing, Slaughter trotted out former Valdosta Mayor
John Fretti’s old chestnut about allegedly in cities where meetings
are televised citizens grandstand and the meetings drag on forever.
Nevermind that there are numerous ways to do it, such as putting
videos on the web and not simulcasting, and in places like Tallahassee
that do both not many citizens usually show up.
The people I’ve seen grandstanding consistently at local government
meetings around here are Continue reading →